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 Editorials | Issues | June 2008 
She's Spent Two Years In a Mexican Prison - Now They Want 23 More
 Margie Boulé - The Oregonian
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| | Rebecca and her family are angry at the injustice. They're angry that U.S. authorities have done so little. They're upset that U.S. politicians have done "virtually nothing to help us," says Barbara Roth. | | |
Just when things looked the darkest for Oregonian Rebecca Roth, sitting in a prison in Mexico . . . they got even darker.
"She is suicidal," Rebecca's sister Barbara Roth wrote in early May.
I've been following Rebecca's story in this column for several months.
More than two years ago Rebecca and a Canadian woman named Brenda Martin were arrested by Mexican authorities and thrown in an overcrowded prison. They were charged with organized crime and money laundering.
People who knew Rebecca and Brenda were incredulous.
The women had held low-level jobs in the employ of a Canadian man named Alyn Waage at the beginning of the decade, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Unbeknownst to both women, they claim, Waage was running one of the biggest Internet pyramid scams in history.
Brenda was Waage's cook. Rebecca made travel arrangements for Waage's family and employees, and stood in line to pay utility, tax and other bills for Waage's nearby investment properties.
In 2001 Waage was arrested at a Mexican airport, carrying $4.5 million in cashiers checks. He was charged with organized crime and money laundering. But Waage was a rich man, and he and his lawyer had connections. He was found not guilty of organized crime. He posted bail for money laundering, jumped bail and was arrested in Costa Rica.
For stealing more than $60 million, he was sentenced to 10 years in a U.S. prison.
Last fall he swore before a U.S. judge that neither Rebecca nor Brenda had any idea what kind of business he'd been running in Mexico.
But Mexican authorities chose not to believe him. The women sat in an overcrowded prison for two years before being given a copy of the prosecution's case.
Rebecca's Mexican attorney was "useless," she says. She pored through the 99 documents introduced as evidence against her. "Only 10 even mentioned her name," says Rebecca's sister, Barbara.
The Mexican government claimed Rebecca's wages and the money she'd been given to pay Waage's utilities were "illicit funds."
But Waage's Mexican attorney had been paid more than $200,000 in funds from the same Waage account. He was not charged with a crime.
Rebecca Roth and Brenda Martin were convicted and sentenced in April. But they weren't given the same sentence.
From the moment Brenda Martin was arrested in 2006, Canadian politicians worked hard to help her. There was outcry from the public and the media.
Within two weeks of her conviction in April, Brenda Martin was in a Canadian prison. Days later, she was released.
That's not how the American government reacted to Rebecca Roth's predicament. Within days of her conviction, Rebecca filed an appeal. "I'm not guilty of these charges," she said by phone last week, from a Mexican prison. "All I did was pay bills."
Rebecca may have entertained hopes that an appeal would be successful. But not for long. Because after she filed her appeal, she was told the Mexican prosecutor had filed his own appeal. Nine years was too short a sentence, he said. He wants Rebecca's sentence lengthened to the maximum, 23 years.
"It is insane," Rebecca said in the telephone interview. "And I've had to deal with the insanity of it, the injustice of it, for two and a half years. Nobody can figure out why they're doing this to me. Even the Mexicans I know can't figure out why."
Some have wondered if Mexico was embarrassed that it let a criminal like Waage get away and wants to save face by punishing a woman they call "one of his gang."
But there are those who are trying to help her.
When Rebecca was denied a translator, "one of the inmates here just stayed on the phone and kept badgering" the government "until finally they said they'd accept a complaint."
Another inmate asked her family to contact an investigative TV journalist in Mexico City. "If he likes my case, he'll put more attorneys on it and will expose it," Rebecca says.
Rebecca could use the help. She fired her Mexican attorney after he failed to file motions to dismiss the charge of organized crime -- something Brenda's attorney did successfully.
It was a significant error. If Rebecca is transferred to a U.S. prison, she must serve the sentence a U.S. prisoner would serve for the crimes she's been convicted of. Organized crime carries a heavy penalty.
"So even though they had no proof, even though the U.S. investigators sent a document to Mexico saying I was not involved, even though Waage swore I knew nothing, and even though they ignored all my receipts and other evidence that I was innocent," Rebecca says, she could spend decades in a U.S. prison if she's transferred.
Waage stole more than $60 million and will be free far sooner.
Rebecca and her family are angry at the injustice. They're angry that U.S. authorities have done so little. They're upset that U.S. politicians have done "virtually nothing to help us," says Barbara Roth.
"The politicians say they've been working diligently," Rebecca said. "The truth is, they couldn't do anything until I signed a privacy waiver so they could get information about my case. They never even requested one."
Rebecca's best-case scenario is if the Mexican appeals judge drops all charges. Still, she's been told she'll have to wait 18 months for the prosecutor's appeal to be decided.
Even if it's rejected, and she's released from prison, "my life is in shambles," she said. "I don't even have enough money to get to the border" to return to Oregon.
The only solace Rebecca has these days is the kindness of the women at the prison, and the support of Oregonians who responded to her story. Many asked what they could do to help.
"Please, I would ask them to contact politicians, even presidential candidates," Rebecca said. "I need them to say, we cannot allow this to happen to one of our citizens."
She appreciates hearing "from people who realize this could happen to anybody. They care. I know if I was outside, I'd care about somebody if this was happening to them."
Efforts are beginning in Portland. Someone has created a Web site freerebecca.org/, and a benefit concert is in the works.
Beyond that, Rebecca says, "I just ask for prayers." She was desperate after her sentencing. She's stronger now. "If nothing else, prayers keep me from being totally discouraged."
Margie Boule: marboule(at)aol.com |
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